December is Universal Human Rights Month, and December 10 is Universal Human Rights Day. On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 30 rights and freedoms that belong to all of us. 

Eleanor Roosevelt was heavily involved in championing civil rights and social activism. She was appointed chair of the UN Commission on Human Rights which drafted the UDHR. On the tenth anniversary of the UDHR, Eleanor gave a speech at the United Nations called ‘Where Do Human Rights Begin?’ Part of her speech has become famous for capturing the reason why human rights are for every one of us, in all parts of our daily lives:

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood they live in; the school or college they attend; the factory, farm, or office where they work. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Read a brief history of human rights.

Read about the drafting of the UDHR.